


Give A Little, Get A Little

by imaginarycircus



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-05
Updated: 2011-09-05
Packaged: 2017-10-23 10:46:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/249439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginarycircus/pseuds/imaginarycircus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve has a problem with boundaries and Danny is not sure if he can forgive him for overstepping them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Give A Little, Get A Little

**Author's Note:**

  * For [leupagus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/leupagus/gifts).



> Written for leupagus's inverted prompt meme and the first half of the story was originally posted [here.](http://leupagus.livejournal.com/88831.html?thread=3122175#t3122175) Thank you to stellarmeadow and sunhawk for cleaning it up.

Of course it's raining when the engine stutters after something snaps against the hood of the car. Danny twists the keys in the ignition and the engine won't even turn over. He’d lay even money on the odds that he'd thrown a belt, but right now he has to get to Grace's school to pick her up. He could call a taxi, but really the man owes him one, so Danny calls Steve.

"Yo?"

"Are you serious? You're a professional, an officer of the law, and have a background in naval intelligence and you answer your phone ‘yo?’”

"I knew it was you."

"And that somehow makes it better? I don't think so. We should have a little chat about proper phone etiquette." Danny starts to wind himself up, but remembers he's calling to ask a favor, owed or not, and so he stops.

"S'up?" Steve says.

"The Camaro broke down. I think it's either the timing chain or a fan belt snapped off. I'm going to call for a tow, but I have Grace today. Could you come pick me up, swing by her school, and drop us off at my place?"

There is thick silence and Danny is almost afraid Steve is going to say no.

"Where are you?"

Danny looks around. "Salt Lake Boulevard, near the Safeway."

"I'll be there in ten." Steve clicks off. Danny calls HPD and explains about the car and needing to leave to get Grace. The desk sergeant says he's sending an officer over to watch over the car until the tow truck can get there.

Danny tries to keep a look out for Steve's truck in the driving rain, but it makes his eyes tired so he leans back and closes them for a few minutes. It's actually kind of nice,2 with the rain drumming on the car until a horn jolts him out of his stupor. He glances in the rear view mirror at a large black car. He knows that car.

Danny fights the urge to smash his head against the steering wheel. He gets out of the Camaro and hurries over to Steve, who rolls down the driver's side window.

"You're kidding me right? This is some kind of sick joke?" Danny gestures at the car.

"What do you mean?" Steve is all innocence.

"This car doesn't go four hundred feet without needing a major repair. How are we going to pick up Grace and get back to my place?"

"She's doing great these days." Steve pats the outside of the door through the open window, the rain turning the black paint to patent leather. "She did fine when I was on the lam."

"That's another thing. You want to drive my daughter around in a vehicle you used to evade police?"

"Danny, you're getting soaked. The car is fine. Get in."

He gets in and the cool of the vinyl seat cuts sharply through his wet clothing. Water drips down his face and into his eyes and when he smooths his hair back, water runs down the back of his neck, making him shiver.

"I hate you," Danny says.

"You're welcome," Steve says.

Danny reaches to turn on the radio, but it doesn't work.

"Sorry, I took the fuse out while I was fixing the heater."

"Yeah, because you really need heat in a car in Hawaii." Danny shivers and decides he will wait until Steve is pulled up at a red light before punching him if he says so much as a word.

Steve wisely senses he better keep quiet and they drive the rest of the way to Grace's school in awkward silence.

Danny grimaces at the Saab pulled up in front of them and ducks out of the car to fetch Grace from the clutch of students huddled just outside the doors to the school. She, at least, has an umbrella that looks like a frog.

"Whose car is that?" she asks.

"Uncle Steve's. I'm so sorry, Monkey. My car broke down and--"

"It's cool." Grace hops in the back seat, and after collapsing her umbrella, she clotheslines Steve into a hug.

Danny climbs back in the car just in time to hear Grace say, "--yeah, this car is cool, Uncle Steve."

Danny loves his little girl, but apparently they need to work on her taste, on having standards, on recognizing aesthetics and also have a little talk about the environment and fossil fuel consumption.

"This car gets what? Ten miles to the gallon?"

Steve mutters something and then scrubs his hand over the shadow of stubble around his mouth.

"Sorry. What was that?" Danny holds his hand up to his ear.

"Eight. I said it gets eight miles per gallon. Are you happy?" Steve starts the car and pulls back out onto the main road. The rain is slowing to a gentle drizzle.

"Happy? No. Nothing has happened today that would make me happy, except seeing my daughter." Danny turns and smiles at Grace who beams back at him.

"If the rain stops, can we go swimming?" Grace asks.

Steve says, "Sure." At the same moment that Danny says, "No."

"The rain is going to stop any minute now and the rest of the afternoon should be nice." Steve makes a right turn, which means he is heading for his own home instead of Danny's.

"Where are you going? I live in the other direction."

"I know, but you don't have a house on the beach." Steve continues to drive calmly towards his house.

"How is Grace going to swim without a suit?"

"She left one at my place last time. I washed it and everything." Steve is clearly trying not to smile, which is again a smart move, because Danny really wants to hit him. He cracks his knuckles for something to do.

"See, Danno!" And now there is nothing Danny can do except be the bad guy, and he sees Grace too little to waste time being the bad guy.

"Fine, fine." He flaps his hands and sinks into a grumpy silence.

*

Steve is swimming with Grace when the call from the garage comes through.

"It looks like someone filed most of the way through one of the belts. Someone got a grudge against you?"

"Not exactly," Danny says. "Let me know when I can pick it up."

"Should be ready tomorrow morning. We’ll park right outside your office."

"Thanks," Danny says and hangs up. He can feel the pressure building in his chest. He can only think of one person capable of carefully rigging his car to break down at exactly the right moment that he could swoop in and save the day. Danny doesn't just want to hit Steve; he wants to throttle him. But he can't do anything while Grace is there. So he simmers. He sits on one of the Adirondack chairs and his blood pressure climbs so high he is afraid he might have a stroke.

When it’s time to take Grace home, Steve seems to sense he better take his truck and not drive Grace around in his classic death trap on wheels.

Once Grace is safely inside and they are well away from Rachel’s house, Danny says in the calmest voice he can manage, “What the hell is your problem?”

“What?” Steve says a little too quickly. And he’s been trained for this shit so Danny knows he wants to get caught and what the fucking fuck?

“Pull over.” Danny says through gritted teeth.

“Why? Are you going to be sick?” Steve pulls over onto the shoulder. Danny gets out of the car and Steve follows him. He really honestly doesn’t seem to see it coming when Danny socks him in the jaw.

Steve stumbles, but stays upright.

“You sick son of a bitch. I don’t even know what you’re up to or why. I mean what the fuck, Steve? Why would you rig my car to break? Just you could come rescue me? What the fuck?”

Steve rubs his jaw and shifts his weight guiltily from foot to foot.

“You know I never get to see Grace. Why would you want to ruin that?”

“I didn’t—I wouldn’t—“

“You fucking did. Don’t you lie to me. Don’t you dare.” Danny is thumping Steve in the breastbone to emphasize each word and unlike the last time he did that to Steve in the trailer park, right now Steve looks cowed.

“No. I wasn’t. I wasn’t going to lie. I wasn’t trying to ruin your time with Grace. I just…”

“Oh, this better be good. Finish that sentence. I dare you to finish that sentence in a way that won’t make me hit you again.”

“I like hanging out with you and Grace and it’s like pulling teeth to get you to bring her over. You guys are like family and every time I’ve asked you to come over you said no.”

“Look, Steve. I know your father’s idea of a hug was to send you to goddamn military school or whatever, but you can’t just manipulate me into spending time with you. I have reasons for saying no to you. You have to respect them or we’re nothing like family, not family I would chose anyway. Do you get that?”

Steve nods sadly. Danny insists on calling a cab and Steve waits with him until it gets there and Danny doesn’t look back, but can imagine him standing forlornly on the side of the road. And no matter how much he tells himself that Steve is not his responsibility, it feels like a lie.

But he knows that Steve would take over his entire life if Danny gave even a little bit.

*

Work is awkward. Steve just stares straight ahead and pretends Danny is a hole in the wall, which is rich coming from him. Because shouldn’t Danny be the one pulling that crap since he is the injured party? What’s even worse is that Kono keeps shooting Steve these pitying glances. Danny told her what had happened with his car, figuring she’d be up in arms, but she surprised him by saying, “Poor Steve. He’s so emotionally retarded.”

Danny is irritable and distracted, which is probably why he ends up getting shot during a simple arrest. It’s not life threatening, but it’s still a through and through in his calf. Thank God it missed bone.

Steve rides to the hospital with Danny, but doesn’t say anything, or even look at him and Danny’s had about all he can take of that bullshit. But he’ll be damned if he’s going to forgive Steve without Steve even bothering to apologize.

It takes hours to get all the X-rays and tests done before they’ll sew up Danny’s leg and wrap it up. They give him some painkillers though, and that makes everything, including Mr. Aneurysm Face easier to deal with.

The whole world softens and Danny snuggles down into it. A nurse with very pretty hair helps him into a wheelchair and wheels him out to the car. His car. Then they are speeding along some street. Danny knows the name of, but he just can’t think of it right now. The palm trees sway in the breeze and he’s mesmerized. There is always something weird and unreal about being injured in Hawaii.

Danny is vaguely aware that Steve is driving him home, which means Steve is probably taking him to his place to wrap him in cotton wool and spoon-feed him soup or some shit. Danny is startled when they pull up to his crappy apartment complex.

“Seriously? You’re giving up an opportunity to run my life?” Danny struggles to get out of the car on his own.

“You made it pretty clear how you felt about that and you were right. So I’m not going to do anything like that anymore. I’m sorry, Danny.”

“Whatever. Could you get over here and help me now, please? Jesus. You help when you’re not supposed to and when you’re supposed to you sit there like a bump on a log.”

Steve practically lifts Danny out of the car and helps him up to his apartment, where he deposits him on the unmade sofa bed without comment.

“Do you need anything else?” Steve asks as if the words cause him pain.

“No, I don’t think so,” Danny says. He can’t think clearly and he only wants to lie down and sleep. He really doesn’t want Steve to go. He’s sure he’s going to need help, but he figures if you give Steve an inch he’ll take eighteen nautical miles.

Danny giggles at his own joke and waves at Steve to go. Steve shrugs and leaves without a word, or a backward glance.

Danny heaves his leg up onto the bed and passes out. When he wakes up, he has no idea how long he’s been asleep, but his mouth feels like someone sand-blasted it and his leg is on fire and feels like someone stabbed him. Excruciating doesn’t even begin to cover it. The pain is red and hot.

Danny takes a deep breath and tries to stand, but the pain is too much. He sinks back down onto the bed, panting and sweating. The water glass he keeps on his bedside table is bone dry, and worst of all he hadn’t thought to fill his pain prescription. Damn it. Damn Steve. The man has picked a hell of a time to reform his meddling ways.

Danny fumbles for his phone and it’s almost out of battery. He calls Kono and prays it doesn’t die mid-call.

“Hey, brah. How are you?” She sounds chipper.

“I’m dying. Can you help me out?”

“Sure, but we got a lead when we were questioning the guy who shot you. Chin and I are on Maui. We won’t be back until about nine. Can you wait?”

“No, I’ll call… someone else.”

“Steve will help you. But he’s trying to behave so you’re going to have to call and ask him.”

“I’m not calling Steve.” Danny says the words through gritted teeth, but only because the pain is so bad.

“You sound awful. You better call someone. Later, brah.”

“No? Really? Thanks.” Danny hangs up.

He hates to do it, but it’s the lesser of two evils. He dials Rachel’s number, but the call goes to voicemail. He leaves a pathetic sounding message and flops back on the bed.

A half an hour crawls by and Danny memorizes the cracks in his ceiling and tries to breathe through the pain. He still remembers the breathing he’d done with Rachel while she was giving birth and some of that actually helps ease his pain a bit.

Danny’s phone buzzes and he realizes he should have plugged it in to charge. He isn’t thinking straight at all.

“Rach?”

“No.” It’s Steve.

“Oh, hey.” Danny tries very hard to keep his voice even.

“Kono called me and said you sounded pretty bad. Do you need anything?”

Danny can’t afford to stand on principle here, since he can’t stand at all.

“Yeah, I forgot to get my prescription and I’m dying.”

“OK.”

Danny sighs. He honestly doesn’t know if Steve is making this hard on purpose or if he is just being super careful not to overstep any boundaries.

“Could you please pick it up for me? It should be waiting at Longs Pharmacy, the one on the Pali Highway.

“Sure,” Steve sounds relieved. “Do you need anything else?”

“Yeah, I don’t have any food in the house at all. Could you bring me something for dinner, please? Anything at all is fine. And some bottled water, too? And maybe a ginger ale? You know, in case the pills make my stomach queasy.”

“Got it. I’ll have my phone on if you think of anything else.”

“Thanks, Steve.”

“No problem.”

Danny clicks off and plugs his phone into the charger on his nightstand. He and Steve are being oddly formal with each other. Still that’s better than being carted around Steve’s house like a rag doll. Kind of. Though Danny imagines the breeze off the ocean on the lanai and Steve bringing him water and fussing over him and Danny doesn’t know what the hell his problem is, but then he remembers. Steve rigged his car to breakdown just so he could spend the day with Danny and Grace. And that is not OK. It’s a little too “Fatal Attraction,” minus the bunny.

And the romance. Danny would have giggled if he weren’t in so much pain. He tries to imagine having a passionate affair with Steve. Steve presses up against him, kisses him… Danny groans. Shit. He’d like that. A lot. He’s kind of in love with Steve and he knows Steve is probably in love with him and he can’t think of someone more emotionally backwards and hopeless than Steve.

There is a tap on the door and Danny croaks, “Come in.” Steve has a key so he is really showing all kinds of restraint.

“I could have been anyone,” Steve frowns at Danny. “You look like crap. And why is it so hot in here? Your AC busted?”

“I don’t know,” Danny shakes his head. “Pills first. AC later.”

“Oh, right.” Steve tosses the paper sleeve with the pill bottle in it onto Danny’s lap and passes him a bottle of cold water. Danny swallows a pill and drinks down half the bottle, which is like liquid heaven against the rawness of his throat.

“Do you want me to look at the AC?” Steve stands with his hands behind his back. Very military and strangely hot and oh, this is going to be awkward at all, Danny thinks.

“Please,” Danny says. He’s still in too much pain to laugh, but really he could tell Steve was about to strain something trying not to help without being asked.

Steve nods once and marches over to the window unit and hits the power button. Nothing. He fiddles with it for a while and then shakes his head. “Has it been acting up?”

“Yeah, rattling noise. It was making a weird squeaky noise. You didn’t—“

“No.” Steve holds his hands up. He looks horrified and Danny has reached his limit. He struggles to sit up.

“OK, this is how this is going to work. You’re going to take me to your place for a couple of days. If I need help I will ask you for it, but otherwise I just need a place to stay with a comfortable bed, where I’m not being poached in my own juices.”

Steve nods and his jaw ripples. Danny wonders if he is trying not to smile. Bastard. Though he believes that Steve didn’t have anything to do with his air conditioner dying.

While they wait for the pain pills to kick in, Steve helps Danny pack a few things in an overnight bag and suggests a toothbrush and a razor when Danny doesn’t think of them himself.

“We’re a good team,” Danny says, slurring slightly.

Steve almost smiles, almost relaxes as they drive to his place. He gets Danny tucked into the couch and brings him some icy ginger ale and chicken soup that tastes like his grandma had made it.

“I love you,” Danny says as he lies back against the pillows, almost pain free, with the breeze from the ocean washing over him.

Steve drops the glass he is holding and just stares at Danny for a long minute. He scurries into the kitchen for a rag and then mops up the spill and won’t look at Danny.

“Sorry, that just slipped out.” Danny says.

“No, I’ll just pretend you didn’t say it,” Steve says quietly.

“Why? I meant it.”

“Danny, you’re on heavy duty pain killers…”

“So what? I’m not supposed to drive a car, but I know how I feel. I mean, OK you drive me fucking nuts. Sometimes I want to strangle you, but I love you and I know you love me too.”

Steve still stares, leaning slightly back like he’s afraid Danny is rabid and is going to bite.

“You could say something, you know. Or you could kiss me.”

“Kiss you?” Steve looks dizzy.

“Yeah. Kiss me.” Danny wonders what the hell is wrong with Steve.

“OK, no.” Steve says.

“You don’t want to? Wait… oh, shit. Sorry. I totally misunderstood. I thought you—“

“I am. I mean I do. But I’m not kissing you right now.”

“Why?” Danny drops his hands down on the sofa.

“Because I want you to be able to remember our first kiss and also your breath is bad enough to knock a buzzard off a shit wagon.”

Danny nodded. Fair enough. He was getting sleepy anyway now that his belly was full and the medicine was reaching full strength.

“Do you want to nap here, or move to the bed in the guest room?” Steve asks.

“I want to sleep with you,” Danny says. “In your bed.”

Steve shakes his head. “You need sleep, Danny. So you can sleep in my bed and I can keep an eye on you, but just to sleep. OK?”

“Whatever. I have to brush my teeth,” Danny says.

“You really, really do.” Steve helps Danny to the bathroom and disappears until Danny is done getting ready for bed. He manages to get his clothes off and leaves them in a pile that Steve picks up and folds for him.

“I just put clean sheets on the bed for you,” Steve says and lowers Danny to the edge of the bed. “Do you want a pillow to raise your leg up?”

Danny nods and Steve tucks a pillow carefully under Danny’s bandaged leg.

“Do you want me to let you sleep or should I wake you up in two hours to take another pill?” Steve stands at the edge of the bed. Danny was right in suspecting that Steve is worse than Danny’s mother.

“I should probably take another pill so the pain doesn’t get out of control again, right?”

Steve nods. “I’m going to go downstairs, just yell if you need anything.” He smooths the hair back from Danny’s forehead and for one moment Danny hopes that Steve is going to lean down and press his gorgeous mouth to Danny’s. But he doesn’t. He shoots him a look that is melting and tender and turns off the light.

He falls asleep to the sound of Steve moving about downstairs and just before he drifts off, Danny thinks a funny thought. It isn’t just that Steve has to learn to recognize and respect Danny’s boundaries. Danny needs to loosen up and let Steve in a bit, needs to make his boundaries permeable. He thinks he can work on that.

*

Danny isn’t sure where the hell he is when he wakes up to the bright sunlight streaming in slats across the pale yellow room, with trim painted white. The bed is large and comfortable and when he turns his head there is Steve, lying on his side sound asleep. He is naked to the waist and boy howdy does that get Danny’s attention. He’s been half hard since his eyes fluttered open, but now he’s aching.

Danny’s leg throbs a bit, but he can ignore it for the other more pleasant ache. He reaches over and runs a finger gently across the plane of Steve’s cheek, down his neck, and across the tattoo that is facing upward on his right bicep. Steve smiles a little and moves towards Danny’s fingers, but doesn’t open his eyes.

“How’s your leg?” Steve says.

“Feels like I got shot.”

“Bitch, bitch, bitch.”

Danny leans up on one elbow and twists towards Steve saying, “Your breath is just as bad as mine right now.” And kisses him. Just a brief, dry, brush of lips against lips. Then the throbbing in Danny’s leg asserts itself.

“I better take another pill.” Danny flops back on his pillow.

“They’re right there on the nightstand. There’s a bottle of water too.” Steve sits up, worried. “You look a little pale.”

Danny takes a pill and drinks most of the bottle of the water. He almost spits out the last swallow because that’s when he notices the tent of the sheet over Steve’s crotch.

“You’re going to be the death of me,” Danny says and points.

“You? How do you think I feel?” Steve groans and scrubs his hands over his face.

“If we’re careful—“

“No. Not today. Not because I don’t want to, but because I don’t want to take you to the hospital again anytime soon, OK?”

“You can’t stop me from jerking off,” Danny says and he ducks a hand beneath the soft white sheet. Steve’s eyes followed his hand and he licks his lips and nods.

“That’s true. I think if you’re careful that would be OK. And I could…” Steve tosses the sheet down to the foot of the bed and pushes off his boxer shorts. “Do you want to watch me, while I watch you?” Steve starts stroking his cock, which is long, thick and purplish at the tip.

Danny starts to push down his own underpants and then looks at Steve, like, hey, a little help here? Steve gently pulls Danny’s blue boxers over his injured leg. He sits with his knees folded under him, so Danny can easily see him stroking himself. And he watches Danny touch himself with hungry eyes.

“God, I want to kiss you. I want your cock in my mouth so badly. Fuck me.” Steve keeps talking and Danny doesn’t take very long with Steve naked in front of him slurring all his words and panting and stripping his own cock.

When Danny comes all his muscles clench and it hurts his leg, but as far as he is concerned it’s worth it.

Steve cleans them both up. “Coffee,” he says.

“God, yes. If you keep treating me like this I might never leave,” Danny says.

“I’d like that,” Steve says and then blanches. “But I mean, you should feel free to come and go. I mean you’re always welcome. But I know you probably need your own space and—“

“Steve. It’s OK. Breathe. Last night as I realized that while you’ve definitely got some things to learn about respecting boundaries, and I know you’ve been trying. I also have to ease up and give a little, let you in. I realized that everything wasn’t totally your fault. I’m sorry, OK?”

“No, I shouldn’t have done that to your car. I don’t know what I was thinking.” Steve is standing in the middle of his bedroom naked

“If you always apologize naked I have a feeling I’m going to be unable to forgive you.” Danny grins. “I need coffee, Jeeves.”

Steve pulls on his boxers and trots off to do Danny’s bidding. This isn’t so bad, Danny thinks, and certainly wasn’t how he’d been expecting to start his Friday morning. Not that he’d complain. He almost feels like he could sing.

He hobbles to the bathroom and tries out the acoustics with a rousing version of “Living on a Prayer.”

When he returns to the bedroom Steve is grinning at him, and clearly trying not to.

“Not a word,” Danny warns.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Steve’s face is all innocence. “Coffee?”

“God, yes.” Danny eases himself back into bed and takes the steaming mug from Steve. There is sugar and cream on a breakfast tray with toast and jam all laid out. Steve knows how Danny takes his coffee, but he’s working so hard not to overstep. Danny knows he’ll forget, knows he’ll mess up, but that’s OK. It’ll work out. They’ll work it out together.


End file.
